Erudus… showcases Marine Stewardship Council Certified (MSC) Certification

One of these attributes is certifications, so users can see which industry certifications a product holds. And in this series we explore the range of certifications you can add to an Erudus product specification, and what they mean.

First up was BRCGS, followed by Red Tractor, British Lion, SALSA and RSPCA Assured.

This time the spotlight is on Marine Stewardship Council Certified (MSC)…

What does Marine Stewardship Council Certified (MSC) mean?

If a seafood product is Marine Stewardship Council certified, it means it has met the standards of, and been certified by The Marine Stewardship Council (the MSC) - a global non-profit organisation dedicated to recognising and rewarding efforts to protect seas and oceans and safeguarding seafood supplies.

For example, The MSC Fisheries Standard is used to assess if a fishery is well-managed and sustainable.

The MSC certification programme meets best practice requirements set by:

• The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation
• Global Sustainable Seafood Initiative
• ISEAL

Though the MSC set the standards which those wishing to be certified have to meet, an independent accredited conformity assessment body (CAB) will carry out the assessments.

Who can get Marine Stewardship Council Certification?

Fisheries supplying marine or freshwater fish or seafood products can gain Marine Stewardship Council certification so long as they have been certified to the MSC standard.

Chain of Custody Standard is for supply chain businesses and ensures MSC certified fish and seafood is separated from that which is non-certified, and is clearly labelled. You can find out more about that Chain of Custody Standard here.

Currently more than 7,000 businesses covering over 48,000 sites have been awarded MSC Chain of Custody certification.

Certified businesses are audited annually to make sure they are still conforming to certification requirements on the following:

• Traceability
• Labelling separation

What are the Marine Stewardship Council Certified (MSC) standards?

The MSC has several different standards that businesses can meet if they wish to be certified. These are:

• The MSC Fisheries Standard
• The MSC Chain of Custody Standard
• The ASC-MSC Seaweed Standard

The MSC Fisheries Standard

The MSC Fisheries Standard assesses ‘if a fishery is well-managed and sustainable’, and reflects ‘the most up-to-date understanding of internationally accepted fisheries science and management’.

These are the 3 core principles of The Fisheries Standard

• Sustainable fish stocks
• Minimising environmental impact
• Effective fisheries management

It is also accompanied by the Fisheries Certification Process, which is the instruction manual for the Conformity Assessment Bodies (CABs) that carry out MSC certifications and defines the processes they must follow when assessing a fishery against the Fisheries Standard.

You can find out more about The MSC Fisheries Standard here.

The MSC Chain of Custody Standard

The MSC Chain of Custody Standard is for companies that buy and sell seafood. It provides verification that a seafood product bearing the Marine Stewardship Certification label has been sustainably sourced at the highest level, is traceable back to its source, and is harvested legally (helping to fight seafood fraud).

When a product carries the MSC label it means that every company in the supply chain has a valid Chain of Custody certificate, and follows the following standards:

• Certified supply - Companies have purchased certified product from a certified supplier
• Identifiable - Certified products are clearly identifiable
• Separation - Certified products are separated from non-certified
• Traceable and recorded - Certified products are traceable and volumes are recorded
• Good management - Companies have a management system that addresses the requirements of the Standard

You can find out more about the MSC Chain of Custody Standard here.

The ASC-MSC Seaweed Standard

The ASC-MSC Seaweed Standard is a joint venture between the Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) and Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) and exists because seaweed operations have been associated with environmental impacts such as changes in water quality, effects on water movement and the physical structure of terrestrial and aquatic habitat.

The ASC-MSC Seaweed Standard recognises and rewards sustainable and socially responsible seaweed production, and contributes to the health of the world’s aquatic system.

You can find out more about the ASC-MSC Seaweed standard here.

Why is the Marine Stewardship Council Certification scheme a third-party programme?

The Marine Stewardship Council does not receive money for assessments or certifications, nor do they actually assess or certify fisheries (or food businesses) themselves. Instead they set the standards which those wishing to be certified have to meet. An independent accredited conformity assessment bodies (CABs) carry out the assessments.

CABs have teams of experts in fisheries science and management who are independent of the fishery and the MSC.

The MSC opts for third-party assessments because they are unbiased as possible and offer the highest level of assurance. And to mitigate the risk of real or perceived conflicts of interest, they have built in additional safeguards, including ensuring assessors follow ISO 17065 (a widely used Product Certification Bodies Accreditation Standard), providing mandatory online training and relevant qualification requirements for assessors, and publishing assessment reports on their Track a Fishery website.

All fishery assessment reports are peer reviewed, which means that 2 peer reviewers (independent scientists from the MSC’s Peer Review College) check each fishery assessment report. Reviewers are always free from any conflict of interest and are selected both on that basis and for their knowledge of the relevant fishery type.

You can find out more about the MSC Peer Review system here.

How is Marine Stewardship Council Certified (MSC) criteria reviewed and developed?

The MSC Standards are reviewed every few years to ensure that they are up to date with industry practices and scientific advances.

They must also remain consistent with best practice codes and guidelines provided by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), ISEAL and the Global Sustainable Seafood Initiative (GSSI).

You can find out more about The Fisheries Standard review here.

You can find out more about latest Chain of Custody Standard review here.

What is the Marine Stewardship Council Certified (MSC) logo?

The Marine Stewardship Council Certified logo is a blue fish label. It is applied to wild fish or seafood from fisheries certified to the MSC Fisheries Standard.

How do you gain Marine Stewardship Council Certified (MSC) certification?

The Marine Stewardship Council believes that gaining certification is only the start of a fishery’s journey. It may take several years to achieve MSC certification and there are re-assessments every 5 years (with surveillance reports carried out annually). Fisheries may have certificates suspended if needed improvements are identified and not carried out.

Fisheries can find out more about getting MSC certification here.

Supply chain businesses can find out more about getting MSC certification here.

For more information visit the Marine Stewardship Council Certified (MSC) website.